


Alight

by Drenagon



Series: Lessons Well Learnt [16]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Complete, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-11-04 21:36:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10999482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drenagon/pseuds/Drenagon
Summary: Nobody ever lets Legolas burn anything... but that's about to change.





	Alight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fencer13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fencer13/gifts).



> Part of this may seem familiar. I've included a scene from Remember to provide some context I felt was needed.

Alight

‘I’m waiting, Kíli!’ Legolas cried, hovering by the door like some sort of ugly vulture.

Oh, alright, probably not _quite_ like that, but still. All this enthusiasm at such an early hour of the morning was very unattractive.

‘I’m sure you are, bâhuh,’ Kíli muttered. ‘You are also very trying!’

‘You only know that phrase because Bilbo uses it with you all the time,’ Legolas pointed out, completely unconcerned by Kíli’s irritation. Kíli ignored him, because he had more pressing problems.

His quiver had been here last night; he was sure of it.

‘FÍLI!’ he roared, a memory taking hold. Mahal, he could not have been at that again, could he? Were a dwarf’s weapons not sacred anymore? Was he going to have to start _sleeping_ with his bow and quiver to protect them?

‘You bellowed, brother dear,’ Fíli answered casually, strolling through the door as if he had not a care in the world. Unlike Kíli, he was clearly ready to deal with both Legolas’ enthusiasm and the spiders.

Then again, no one had been stealing his things.

‘What have you done with my quiver?’

‘Nothing,’ Fíli replied, looking confused. ‘I haven’t seen it.’

Yes, and Kíli was the Witch King of Angmar.

Which he was never, ever going to be, because Mum had taken far too much joy in killing that thing and Kíli liked breathing.

‘Well, it isn’t here,’ he insisted grumpily, ‘and the last time I went looking for it right where I left it and it wasn’t there…’

‘Fíli was having a drinking competition,’ Legolas completed for him. There was a certain amount of approving laughter in Legolas’ voice, but Kíli was generously ignoring it.

He was a good friend and did these things for his loved ones.

‘Loathe as I am to suggest that Fíli might be innocent,’ Thranduil said from the doorway, ‘for the Valar know he very rarely is,’ Fíli stuck his tongue out at Thranduil. Thranduil raised a threatening eyebrow in return and Fíli settled for pouting instead, ‘in actual fact he is not guilty on this occasion.’

Then Thranduil held out one of the most beautiful quivers Kíli had ever seen and offered it to him.

‘A gift,’ Thranduil told him kindly. ‘It is a little early for your birthday, but this seemed like a good first use for it.’

Kíli took the quiver and ran his fingers over the beautiful detail work. The leather itself was night-black with the faintest hint of red in it, though Kíli had no idea how the elves had achieved the shimmering tones which only showed when the leather caught the light. The embossing depicted a long silver path with tall rocks to either side. The figure standing tall in the middle of that path burned a bright gold. Kíli knew enough elvish now to understand the words picked out in silver around the top.

 _None stand so fast as a dwarf_.

Kíli generally tried to avoid being too emotional around Thranduil and Legolas. They had forged a relationship of teasing and laughter over the years, and that was the way they liked it.

Still, one hug wouldn’t kill the elven king. Not after all else they had survived.

***

‘Nobody ever lets me burn anything,’ Legolas said sadly. Thranduil, fully aware of his dignity as King of the Woodland Realm, and of the large number of soldiers stood nearby, did not bang his head against the nearest tree.

He thought about it, but restrained himself.

‘My kingdom… _our_ kingdom is made of wood, ionneg,’ he reminded Legolas slowly. ‘I can think of few worse ideas than setting anything on fire whilst we are within it.’

‘Spiders, Father,’ was Legolas’ rejoinder. ‘Tell me you would not like to watch some spiders burning.’

Fíli, who along with Thorin, Tauriel and Kíli had been very quiet up until this point, began to laugh.

‘I should probably apologise,’ he told Thranduil. Thranduil groaned. Quietly.

‘Are you where he got this idea from?’ he demanded of Fíli. Fíli shrugged.

‘In my defence, it was meant to be a throwaway comment. I didn’t realise he was going to take me seriously.’

‘You should have let me set Shelob on fire,’ Legolas said haughtily.

‘I let you _kill_ Shelob,’ Fíli said. Thranduil was not sure quite how he came to that conclusion; he had yet to see Fíli successfully stop Legolas from killing anything. ‘Should that not have been enough, bâhuh?’

‘This would be better,’ Legolas insisted. Thranduil could not help groaning again. His only child was like an elk with the bit between its teeth sometimes.

‘If,’ Thranduil began slowly. Legolas recognised the tone and perked up, ‘ _IF_ you are able to corner some of the spiders in Dol Guldur and you are certain that there is no danger to anything living… good and living… then you may set the spiders on fire. That is the best you are going to get, Legolas.’

Legolas whooped with joy, grinning at Kíli with a manic light in his eyes. Kíli grinned back in the same manner, and Thranduil received some compensation for his pain in the way that Fíli’s forehead smacked into his hand.

Tauriel simply gave her Lord a look of utter betrayal.

‘I am sorry, my dear,’ he assured her. ‘Truly.’

Thorin was not laughing, but Thranduil knew it was only because where Legolas went his nephews were sure to follow.

‘Why do they do this to us?’ Thranduil asked him plaintively, magnanimously ignoring the choked-down laughter. ‘Why?’

‘Children are an exercise in fortitude,’ Thorin answered him. ‘Remember that it could be worse. You could have had Elladan and Elrohir instead.’

That was a good point, Thranduil realised as they prepared to move out. A very good point. One was quite bad enough. Two might just have killed him.

***

This, Legolas thought gleefully, might be the best day of his long life.

Discounting the obvious ones, of course, such as killing a dragon, saving the world and discovering that Kíli wasn’t actually dead.

He needed two scales to measure on, really.

One would be the ‘days that would go down in legend’ scale of good, and the other would be the ‘more fun than I have ever had’ scale.

This was definitely at the top of the latter.

They had been killing off the outlying groups of spiders over the weeks since they returned home from war, winnowing their numbers down bit by bit. Now they were making the final push into Dol Guldur, where Legolas knew that the biggest concentration of their foes remained,

Spiders were not warriors in the way that most of Legolas’ enemies were. They did not place scouts on the edges of their territory, or have guards in place to warn of attack. They relied on their webs and the vibrations that they felt to warn them of approaching prey.

Legolas had not the slightest problem with using those webs to warn them of their approaching doom.

He had behaved impeccably on the journey here, remaining on the ground with his dwarven allies and not getting too far ahead. Time had taught him that dwarves were not meant for leaping between trees and moving through the heights. They probably could, if they had to, but they much preferred to have their feet on solid ground.

Legolas could accept that as a form of travel, especially give the state of the trees around this place. It had not yet fully recovered from its time as Sauron’s haunt. The elves had begun a process of renewal after he fled, cutting down the dead trees and planting new ones, but it had not taken the spiders long to undo their good work.

Father would be furious.

Still, now that they were closer, the webs were thick enough that they would quite easily support his weight. And probably Bombur’s weight as well, if the dwarf had joined them.

Time to let their enemies know they were here.

‘I will meet you at the entrance,’ Legolas called to his father, knowing very well that asking forgiveness would be much more effective than requesting permission. Then he took off with a cursing Tauriel at his heels, grabbing the first section of webbing he came across and launching himself up into the tangle above.

He heard Kíli’s cry of outrage and sympathised with it, but it was not as if he was going to be gone long. He was off to ensure the spiders felt their presence, but he had no intention of fighting the entire group single-handed.

He wasn’t _Glorfindel_.

They had been running towards the fortress for no more than a minute or two when the first spider attacked them. Legolas had felt it coming – vibrations went two ways, after all – and he dropped down to the ground as it approached. The spiders moved well enough on the ground, but he had discovered over the years that they preferred to be up high, so he always tried to draw them down if he could. When the spider moved to follow, Tauriel, who it had very unwisely failed to notice, simply dropped down on top of it and stabbed a dagger through its skull. It finished the fall in a rather ungainly heap.

Which served it right for having so many legs, Legolas decided.

And for being evil.

Several seconds later, the first spider was followed by another two, young ones most likely from its own nest. They swarmed down towards Legolas and Tauriel, apparently following instinct as much as anything, but two arrows from Legolas swiftly stopped their approach.

‘That will do, I think,’ Legolas told Tauriel contentedly. ‘They know we’re here now.’ He moved to return to the entrance and rejoin the others, and Tauriel followed behind him, muttering furiously.

‘Honestly, Legolas, anyone would think you had never heard of the element of surprise,’ she fumed. ‘Why in Arda would we want them to know that we’re here?’

‘To get them all in one place, of course,’ Legolas told her, surprised that he even needed to clarify. ‘I explained the plan, Tauriel. How did you think I meant to be sure they were all together?’

‘Eru save me,’ Tauriel prayed. ‘That’s it. I’m moving to Erebor and throwing myself on Dís’ mercy. She will let me stay, I am sure.’

‘You will not,’ Legolas dismissed, as they met up with the rest of their party in a courtyard not far from the bridge by which one entered Dol Guldur. Legolas remembered it from the first time they had cleared the place, and had decided it would be the best venue for his strategy. ‘You would never abandon Father like that.’

‘No, Tauriel, please do not,’ Thranduil requested with a faintly pleading edge to his voice. ‘I am too old to chase after him, and certainly not alone.’

‘I begin to think _I_ am too old to chase after him,’ Tauriel returned acidly.

‘You are all being ridiculous,’ Legolas informed them firmly. ‘Particularly as we are about to have more important things to worry about.’

That was true enough. Rustling noises were coming from all around them, signs that the spiders were all now aware of the intruders and moving to deal with them.

Wordlessly, several of the dwarves that Thorin had brought with him went to the far edge of the courtyard, which was enclosed by a sizeable wall. There were gated entrances to the left and right of the courtyard, and Dwalin and Gimli hauled them shut just as the leading edge of the spiders scuttled in from above.

Good, everyone was prepared to go along with Legolas’ plan, despite their complaining. He shouted out, ‘Remember, drive them back,’ just in case anyone had forgotten the most important part, then flipped his bow into his hands and began to fire.

He did want to see some spiders aflame, it was true, but there was no harm in thinning the herd a little first.

He killed three spiders in the first minute of the battle, firing into eyes and gaping mouths as they tried to get close enough to attack. Legolas could tell from the movements around him that Kíli and Tauriel were also firing, whilst his father, Thorin and Fíli moved further into the courtyard to engage the spiders massing in the centre.

In general, Legolas had found, spiders were inherently selfish and did not work together; they were all too concerned about who would get to eat their prey to cooperate. However, they did show some intelligence when being attacked in large numbers and would gather against their opponents, presumably on the theory that ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’

They would regret it this time, but they had not realised that yet.

Legolas and the other archers continued to fire on the periphery, encouraging the newly-arrived spiders to join their fellows in the centre, if they made it that far. Meanwhile, those bearing blades moved inwards step by step, compressing the mass of bodies into one area. Legolas had estimated that this main colony of spiders was about forty or fifty strong. The groups who had attacked them twenty years ago had been bigger, but then they had had more time to settle in. The elves of the Woodland Realm had not allowed this problem to fester for so long.

Now it seemed Legolas had been right. The number of incoming spiders began to slow. He took a quick scan of the courtyard, assessing if everyone was now in place and judging by eye the number of enemies they had already slain. Twenty to twenty-five dead, he reckoned, which was a respectable number.

Time for part two of the plan.

He let out a sharp whistle in a fluting pattern, sending his signal to the dwarves of Erebor. Sparks were swiftly struck, and the kindling they had set up at the far end began to burn. In the middle of the courtyard, Thranduil and Thorin kept their people fighting, making sure that the spiders’ attention remained on them.

Once the dwarves were certain that the fire had taken hold, they each grabbed a burning torch and hurried around the edge of the spider horde, moving into the open space before Legolas and the archers. As they did so, each of them stopped at another pile of kindling which had been piled up earlier and set it alight.

‘Archers onto the walls,’ Legolas called, and the elves moved immediately, jumping up and using jagged parts of the crumbling stone to boost them up. When he looked at Kíli, Legolas could see him pulling a face and swapping his bow for his sword. Poor Kíli, he had obviously decided that the wall would defeat him.

With the fires now burning strongly, the non-archers began to retreat, making their way to the only gate left open. The spiders, sensing their danger a little late, scurried after them. Some were slain by those retreating, and others were driven back by well-aimed arrows from above. The foot-soldiers made it to the gate and filed out swiftly, with Dwalin preparing to slam it shut.

Just before he did so, however, they had one more surprise left for the spiders.

Legolas had only been able to find one barrel of pitch at such short notice, but with the fires already burning one barrel should be enough. Fíli and Thorin together flung it forward, making sure that the sticky liquid spread as far as possible. Then Dwalin closed the spiders in, and one of the dwarves flung his lit torch through the gate.

The flame hit the pitch and the whole area came alight.

The spiders, of course, weren’t entirely stupid. Surrounded by fire, they tried to exit the way they had come in, over the wall and along their webs, but that was what Legolas and his archers were there for. The escapees were mostly driven back by arrows, though one or two managed to force their way through and were pursued by other elves at his father’s command.

It did not take long for the nest to burn, in the end. Especially once the webs that the spiders would have used to escape caught the flames and shrivelled away to nothing.

A short time later, Legolas surveyed his work with strong satisfaction.

Then he ran along the wall, hopped down and faced his father proudly.

‘I told you I could make them burn without destroying the forest,’ he announced.

‘Yes, ionneg,’ Thranduil replied resignedly, ‘so you did.’

***

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies to Fencer13 for going a little off track at the beginning. Hopefully there's enough Legolas vs. spiders (the original title of the scene) at the end to make up for it!
> 
> I started this scene over a week ago, and it was like pulling teeth trying to get it finished for a variety of reasons. Then, completely by chance, I discovered that someone(s) had created a TV Tropes page for History (and the other stories) here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/HistoryTeachesUs 
> 
> It's one of the most exciting things I've ever found. This is a website I go on to look at other people's stories, or proper TV shows etc, and my story is on it! Someone(s) had taken the time to go through and record tropes they found and parts of the story they'd liked, including some of my own favourite lines. I was so happy and, after reading through the page, suddenly this scene was willing to be written again.
> 
> So thank you, someone(s), whoever you are. You pretty much made my year :D


End file.
